Mystery Melange

 

The Macavity Award finalists were announced this past weekend, in the categories of Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Short Story, Best Nonfiction, and Best Historical Novel. The annual awards are nominated by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal and friends of MRI. The winners will be announced at opening ceremonies at Bouchercon in Toronto, Thursday, October 12. For a complete list, follow this Mystery Fanfare link.

Wordcrafters is sponsoring a conference August 25-27 in Eugene, Oregon, titled Behind the Book: The Mechanics of Murder. HIghlights include the keynote address and a workshop by Katherine Ramsland, a forensic psychologist and best-selling author 59 books; a keynote and workshop by D.P. Lyle, forensic MD and award-winning author of 15 books; and CSI: EUGENE — a hands-on crime lab with forensic analyst Lisa Pope of Eugene Police Department.

Open Road Integrated Media has created a new website titled Murder & Mayhem, which they hope will deliver "the best in mystery and thrillers—from forgotten masterpieces to the latest in heart-pounding fiction and twisted suspense." To celebrate the website's launch, they are offering a giveaway of 10 books in the Jason Bourne series—including The Bourne Initiative, which was just published this month. 

Tech Republic has a nice article titled "Hacking the Nazis: The secret story of the women who broke Hitler's codes." Of the 10,000-plus staff at the Government Code and Cypher School during World War II, two-thirds were female. Three veteran servicewomen explain what life was like as part of the code-breaking operation during World War II, which was featured in the TV series The Bletchley Circle on ITV and PBS.

A big happy 150th birthday to Canada! In honor of the event, Crime Fiction Lover has a curated list of some of the best Canadian crime novels of all time.

Brian Busby profiled thriller author Kenneth Orvis (1923- ) and the "Very Bad Career Move" that altered the course of his literary output and why you probably haven't heard of him.

Another bit of sad author news: Crime writer Helen Cadbury has passed away at the age of 52 following a battle with cancer. Her debut crime novel, To Catch A Rabbit, was published in 2013, and was a joint winner of the Northern Crime Award. The second in the series, Bones in the Nest, followed in July 2015, with one more volume still to be published.

Several studies recently have shown just exactly how good reading is for the brain - if it's a paper book. Reading in print helps with comprehension, empathy, and even helping to prevent dementia.

Speaking of print books, you think you're a book hoarder? (Looking at my bookshelves, here...) Maybe not as much as you think.

Here's an interesting question that may soon be coming to a court near you or make an interesting sci-fi crime book: "Who's Guilty When a Brain-Controlled Computer Kills?"

Via The Conversation: Sherlock Holmes and the case of the forged Stradivari: did we miss a vital clue for 130 years?

And from Mental Floss comes this: there was one instance when a hysterical news media—and even Agatha Christie herself—became alarmed that she may have taken things too far in one of her books.

The latest edition of Mike Ripley’s "Getting Away with Murder" column in Shots takes a look at news books from Paul Cleave, Michael Connelly, Bonnie MacBird, Peter Murphy, Simon Scarrow, Holly Seddon, and more.

This week, the featured crime poem at the 5-2 is "And That's the Way It Went" by J.H. John.

In the Q&A roundup, Don Winslow took the New York Times' "By the Book" quick interview challenge; Publishers Weekly had another quickie Q&A with "Four Questions for James Patterson"; Kate Carlisle, the bestselling author of the Bibliophile Mysteries and the Fixer-Upper Mysteries (as seen on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries) stopped by the blog, A Slice of Orange; the Crime Warp welcomed Theakston's Crime New Blood author Jane Harper, author of The Dry; and the Mystery People grilled John Connolly about his latest Charlie Parker novel, Game Of Ghosts.